Grow a human heart in a jar? Such a feat is unthinkable and yet NHCS, teaming up with Medera’s Novoheart, have done so. The team has developed a first-of-its-kind Asian patient-specific human heart model with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). HFpEF occurs when the heart becomes too stiff to pump sufficient blood around the body.
These miniature heart models, or "Human Heart-in-a-Jar", will enable researchers to test drugs and discover new therapies for personalised treatment of heart failure as generic medication may not have the same outcomes for different patients. This is a crucial step forward in the fight against heart failure, which is a top cause of death in Singapore.
